Hey. I am a 20-year old young man and I was diagnosed with various learning disabilities at age 7.

I have made most of my online friends through other forums or chatrooms.

What type of things is your son interested in? Like who is his favorite actor? Or favorite band? Favorite sports team? What does he enjoy doing?

Find out, then just go on a search on the net. Try google.com. It is a very good search site.

Do that, and you should find some sites that are all about those people or things he likes. Most sites have ways for fans to interact with each other. Like a forum or a chatroom. Just have him go on there, and talk about whatever the topic is, and there ya go.

Having the same interests as other people is always a great way to make friends.

As far as the safety issue is concerned, just explain to your son to never give out personal information about himself no matter what, and no matter how friendly some people are, do not tell anyone on the net anything personal.

It also would not hurt to moderate the forums he goes on yourself. Or even sit next to him while he chats or posts to other people.

I am sure there are penpal sites out there too where he can e-mail another kid his age.

Also, just a side note: Having online friends can be cool. But having real friends is much cooler and can really build one's self confidence. I would definitely encourage him if I were you to check out joining some youth groups.

Find out what he is really into and what he really enjoys doing, and try to get him to join some sort of youth group where he and other kids his age can share the same love they have.

Like when I was younger, I was really into basketball. I was not good at a lot of things. ESPECIALLY SPORTS. But basketball was one thing I could do well. I loved the NBA too and loved to talk basketball all the time. I knew a lot about the history of the game as well. I impressed many adults with my knowledge of the history of the NBA. I knew who played who in March of 1970, who was MVP in 57'. The works. All at like ten years old too.

I also spent hours and hours playing b-ball in front of my house with all the neighborhood kids when I was younger. And since I knew how to play the game, no one ever got annoyed with me and I never slowed anyone down. And we all had fun.

As I got older, I got more into acting and such. And like basketball, acting was something I could do well for a high school kid. And acting was one thing I did not mess up on. I could remember all my lines well and really got into it. And all my friends in high school were young actors too.

So just find out what your son is into and try to get him to join youth groups. I know he may be shy at first.

And I admit, I was always nervous about being around people who I had nothing in common with. Still am now!

But when I was around other young basketball players or other young actors, I felt right at home and was not nervous at all because I knew what I was doing. I did not even have to talk much. I would just impress people with my skills, and the rest was history.

It should be the same deal with your son. Just find out what he is good at. Something you know he will have confidence in and the rest should be history.